Part 110 (1/2)
”Sir!” Sosius was shocked
”Because, henceforth, if I catch any deserters, I aerous hee, and I will have to take drastic measures to stanch it” He lifted his cup ”But you, friend, I will give safe passage”
”Sir!”
”Very well But this is your last chance” Antony took a long s
The wineoh, dear Gods! Let us not have another episode like Pergamon! I watched him carefully
But he seemed dead sober, as if the shocks of the day had cut him so deep even the wine could not numb him further
”I think we must turn our attention back to the shi+ps,” Antony said ”After the atteave a quick tally: There were more shi+ps than able oars roere in a bad way, both in body and spirit Their bodies suffered fros hauled by Greek villagers over the mountains--and their spirits from the inactivity, inexperience, illness, and failed escape
”A deadly combination, sir,” said Sosius
”By the Gods, man, can they still sit and row?”
”Yes,” he answered
”Then row they shall,” said Antony grimly ”And soon”
At last we could retire to sleep, the faithful Eros and Char us Once ere alone, we still did not speak Words see away froan to release its grip on this day, and the pinpricks of light froe arrived Antony sat up and read it in the faint light
Rhoemetalces of Thrace and Marcus Junius Silanus, a commander, had slipped away under cover of darkness to join Octavian
Chapter 75
”You have only seen him win You don't know a man until you see him lose” Olympos had once said those words, casually, about a chariot racer I had wished to reward by appointing him overseer of the royal stables Now they haunted me
You don't know a man until you see him lose don't know a man until you see him lose
Antony's despair, his fits and starts, his irresolution after the second cavalry attack failed, orse than the defeat itself I watched in disbelief as this ht I had knon to the bone, seeht on the rocks
Prince lamblichus of Emesa and Quintus Postuht, and executed by Antony as a warning That stopped the desertions aer would it be until the co thees and slogans fired into our ca our htful enough to send a copy of a poenominious sea retreat and Amyntas's desertion It must have been Octavian, since the poem ritten to his intimate, M aecenas Who else would have had a copy of it?
It see out their best wine
When, blest Maecenas, shall ain Beneath your stately roof a bowl Of Caecuban long-hoarded drain In gladsoreat Caesar's victories Whilst, as our cups are crowned Lyres blend their Doric melodies With flute's barbaric sound?
A Roman soldier (ne'er, oh, ne'er Roman soldier (ne'er, oh, ne'er Posterity, the shame avow!) A woman's slave, her arms doth bear woman's slave, her arms doth bear And palisadoes now; To wrinkled eunuchs crooks the knee And now the sun beholds 'Midst warriors' standards flaunting free The vile pavilion's folds!
Maddened to view this sight of sha Caesar's na leftwise o'er the sea The foe haven flee In pitiful retreat
Vanquished by land and sea, the foe His regal robes of purple shi+fts For miserable weeds of woe And o er the aves drifts
Cooblets crown With Chian or with Lesbian wine Or else our squeamish sickness drown In Caecuban divine!
Thus let us lull our cares and sighs Our fears that will not sleep For Caesar and his great eoblets broad and deep!
Both the truths and the untruths usted by the sight of my pavilion (what pavilion?) or my eunuchs (what eunuchs?); nor was Antony my slave But we had had been forced to effect a ”pitiful retreat” back into the gulf, andbeen forced to effect a ”pitiful retreat” back into the gulf, and
Should I show it to Antony? It would have fired the old Antony; first he would have laughed, then he would have set out to punish the taunters But this new Antony--this stranger, vanquished by land and sea, his regal robes of purple shi+fts for al robes of purple shi+fts for miserable weeds of ould it break him completely? I folded up the offensive poem and hid it I was afraid to take the chance
Swelter: to be faint from heat To be oppressed by heat To sweat profusely That is e did, at Actium in July July The month of Julius On Caesar's birthday, the twelfth of thatdinner of coer food, served by sweltering servants under a moon that even see the scu their stink rise That is e did, at Actium in July July The month of Julius On Caesar's birthday, the twelfth of thatdinner of coer food, served by sweltering servants under a moon that even see the scu their stink rise
The food on our plates was scant enough There were some boiled beans, some toasted cattails (I had reypt and tried a substitute),fish And wine so sour it ht of Maecenas and Horace drinking their delicate aer even Octavian's pretty little pages are drinking Falernian,” said Dellius, echoing ht them with him, that is”
”He probably never travels without them,” I said Octavian, like many Romans, evidently kept ere called deliciae deliciae for his pleasures But of course he felt free to insult Mardian as a eunuch! for his pleasures But of course he felt free to insult Mardian as a eunuch!
Dellius took another s of the wine,unpleasant noises with hisI tried not to dwell on the enemy camp, with its ample supplies for the men and dainties for the officers
The last of Antony to change was his public self, and he was able to preside over the gathering in his oldon his tousled hair showed a head still held high, dark eyes alert to all that passed, white teeth ready to flash in laughter Sweat gleamed on the cords of his thick neck, and on the sinews of his forearms as he held his cup, but the heat did not wilt hioblet
Everyone drank
But the unspoken thought must have hovered in everyone's mind: What would Caesar do in this position? It was unthinkable that he would not be able to extricate himself and force a victory But ho?
”And to his true son, Ptoleain The others followed
We e ere defending Surely Caesar hiht
I felt unwell, unsteady and weak I kept telling myself that it was merely from the near-starvation rations ere on I prayed it was nothing more Ahenobarbus had indeed died only a few days after his departure Even the highest-ranking were not ih the troops
Gathered about us were our officers and about twenty senators, none of theh here and there, discreetly as had long since been laid aside, and the senators earing only tunics, as were the military officers Without their distinctive dress, they were hard to tell apart